Sicily Food and Tourism
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Description: Sicily is the largest island (25,426 sq. km.) in the Mediterranean; it is also the most important economically and has the richest heritage of history and art. http://www.SensationalSicily.com Its geographical particularity lies in its compact but varied orographical structure, the uniformity of its rivers, the typically Mediterranean climate and the insularity which has helped Sicily to experience homogeneous historical development with originality of custom, art and culture.
Together with the minor Aeolian islands (the Lipari), Ustica, Egadi, Pantelleria and the distant Pelagie, Sicily is the most extensive region in Italy, though it has only the fourth highest population. The population density is slightly higher than the national average.
The island is bounded by the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north, the Ionian to the east and the Sicilian Sea to the south-west; the Strait of Messina separates it from Calabria.
You must also be careful with your words when talking about Sicilian cuisine. Arancini (little oranges) in Sicily are fried balls made with rice, meat, and grated cheese; quaglie (quails) are eggplants opened and fried in oil, and falsemagre (false thins) are not young women but meatballs made with salame, hard-boiled eggs, parsley and other things. And breasts of virgin are not at all what you might think.
The cooking of the eastern part of Sicily is different from that of the west. From Caltanisetta to Trapani the influence is Saracen, with its strong contrasts and flavours fighting each other.
Whereas on the eastern side, from Messina to Siracusa, from Catania to Agrigento, the cuisine is sober, with less fantasy, avoiding the sweet and sour and less generous with sugar in the sauces. This is because the Arab influence was stronger in the western part of the island.
It's not surprising that one of Trapani's specialties is "cuscusu" or small balls of semolino cooked over boiling water so that the cuscusu is cooked in steam, then added to a broth made from fish soup and then served with the same fish that contributed to the soup. If lobster is added the dish is perfect.
Sicily exceeds all the other regions of Italy for its abundance of sweets, fruits, and ice creams. It's a paradise for children and those with a sweet tooth. There are pastry shops with more than thirty varieties of pastries and ice-cream makers who could conquer the equator.
All of the recipes for Sicilian sweets come from the monasteries where sons and daughters of the great families lived in cloisters and expressed their dreams in sugar and flour.
Candied fruits and sweets made with almond paste emerged from these sacred places, and until the turn of the century the entire production went to the clergy and Sicily's aristocrats.
Some recipes remain a mystery, the nuns of Santo Spirito refuse to reveal their secrets for making the sweet dessert they sell from a revolving door at their convent in Agrigento.
Fortunately these traditional sweets live on during the religious festivals, for example at Easter when desserts made from almond paste in the form of sheep are sold, as well as the lamb of god rendered in color, and a special sweet for each patron saint.
Sicily - Food and Wines - Wines
Contrasts are not the least of those things in which Sicily abounds. So perhaps it is not surprising that this ancient island boasts one of Italy's most modern wine industries of that a region noted chiefly in the past for strong and often sweet amber Marsala and Moscato has rapicly switched the emphasis toward lighter, dryer wines - whites and reds.
Sicily, the largest Mediterranean island, has more vineyards for wine than any other region. Production in recent years has reached awesome levels - frequently the greatest in volume among the regions. The westernmost province of Trapani alone turns out more wine than the entire regions of Tuscany or Piedmont or such wine nations as Hungary, Austria or Chile. But the proportion of DOC wine in Sicily's total is a mere 2.5 per cent and a major share of that is Marsala, which with some 22 million litres a year ranks among Italy's top ten DOCs in volume.
Marsala, which was devised by English merchant traders nearly two centuries ago, has remained Sicily's proudest wine despite decades of degradation when it was flavoured with various syrups and sweeteners. Recently it has enjoyed a comeback with connoisseurs, who favour the dry Marsala Vergine and Superiore Riserva with their warmly complex flavours that rank them with the finest fortified wines of Europe.
The only other DOC wine made in significant quantity in Sicily (about 2.5 million litres a year) is the pale white, bone dry Bianco d'Alcamo. Moscato di Pantelleria, from the remote isle off the coast of Tunisia, is among the richest and most esteemed of Italian sweet wines in the Naturale and Passito Extra versions. Malvasia delle Lipari, from the volcanic Aeolian isles,is a dessert wine as exquisite as it is rare.
The dry white and red wines of Etna, whose vines are draped over the lower slopes of the volcano, can show notable class, as can the pale red but potent Cerasuolo di Vittoria. Production of the others DOCs - the dry, red Faro and the sweet Moscatos of Noto and Siracusa - has been virtually nonexistent in recent times.
By contrast, a number of unclassivied "vini da tavola" are thriving. Increasingly prominent are the pale, faintly scented, delicately fruity whites which derive largely from native grapes such as Inzolia, Catarratto, Grecanico and Verdello. Such outsiders as Sauvignon and Chardonnay have also proved promising. Certain reds have achieved prominence, too, mainly those from such admired native varieties as Nero d'Avola (or Calabrese) and Nerello Mascalese and Perricone (or Pignatello).
The most admired brands in Sicilian tables wines - Corvo-Duca di Salaparuta and Regaleali - do not qualify under any DOC. Yet Corvo's consistent quality in dry whites and reds from grapes selected throughout the island has made them prizewinners at home and abroad. Regaleali from the Tasca d'Almerita family estate high in the island's central hills, has been producing white, rose' and reds that have won international acclaim.
The Region of Sicily distinguishes wines of consistent quality - whether DOC or not - with a Q, which appears on labels as a seal of approval.
http://www.ciaodarling.com/italy/regions.htm
Sicilian wine has not enjoyed universal success, however. In an era of dwindling consumption world-wide, much of the island's production is either shipped away as blending wine or designated for distillation into industrial alcohol.
The region's wine production - four-fifths of which is centred in cooperatives - has been gradually reduced as new emphasis has been given to premium quality. New methods of viticulture in the sunny, temperate hills are helping to realise wines of real character and individuality. Sicily has taken the lead in winemaking in the modern south as producers seem increasingly determined to live up to the promise that was so well known to the ancient Greeks.
Author: newrealm06
Source: YouTube
